We started our hike at 9:30am on a quiet, rainy late November Saturday morning. The parking lot had five or six cars. We began at Palomarin Trailhead, then followed the Coast Trail, then onto the Alamere Falls turnoff. The Coast Trail gave us a view of the ocean below, then into a few groves of trees. We also walked by two lakes, Bass Lake and Pelican Lake. The latter, Pelican Lake is a lake with a peek-a-boo view of the ocean in the background. The trail was dotted with puddles, large and small, which required puddle jumping, sidestepping and occasionally carry-overs by daddy. I think that made it a little more exciting for the boys. We encountered at least 3 salamanders and an equal number of banana slugs. The boys spent a few minutes watching them get merrily on their way, albeit very slowly.

Glass Beach, Fort Bragg, California

We visited Glass Beach in Fort Bragg after I saw some very convincing pictures of pebbles of curved glass on the beach. I had also read that the amount of glass on the beach was significantly less than what it was 30 years ago. Though I was half-hearted about the way it began, I thought Glass Beach was worth a stop on our trip to the northern California coast. Parking at Noyo Headlands at the corner of Old Haul Road and Elm Road, we made our way towards the beach. The glass was not obviously visible from the trail above, so we decided to explore towards McKerricher State Park following a footpath going north.

Great sculpted sandstone rocks to climb and conquer. A short walk (less than a mile) from Live Oak Campground got us to a trail that gave us a view of three sculpted rocks: Wind Caves, Big Rock and Sentinel Rock.

Our October hike to Dewey Point took us under towering mossy trees, some meadowlands and three stream crossings. One stream had a wooden bridge built over it which kept us all dry. The other two stream crossings had makeshift logs put into place over the stream. We managed across the streams, with only one of us getting our foot wet. The hike under trees went on for over 4 miles before we saw a clearing indicating the granite canyon ahead. If you love hiking under trees, you'll love this hike!

If you are interested in learning about anything space related, Chabot Space and Science Center will let you learn more. From a model of Mars with the largest known volcano and canyon in the solar system, to a Live feed from the International Space Station, to models of mankind's many spacecrafts, Chabot will give you a better understanding of the Space around us as we know it.